Want to leave my partner but does anyone know the answer to this before I do?

[2023helpplease]

I have a two year old and it’s horrendous living with my partner. We had her fast into the relationship and to be honest I have had doubts for a while. I want to leave but as she’s in nursery I am very worried about money and the fact he might turn nasty if I break us up.

my question is, he works 80% of the time as a doctor in private practice. If I claim child maintenance will he be classed as self employed? I’ve read it’s hard to get cms to do anything if so and I don’t think he will make it easy for me if I end things. He works 20% of the time employed in the nhs but obviously that salary is small compared to what he gets paid privately. I want out of this but wouldn’t be able to pay for nursery fees myself and work.

I would imagine that i you are sel employed you would have to submit some proof of income, like a tax return or something- he's hardly going to be working cash in hand is he?

I dont know but Can you do some snooping and try to get some proof of both jobs? Wage info etc. take copies and keep them safe.

does he have a contract for the private practice work ? Or is he doing it adhoc via an agency?

if he is working with a permanent contract then the private work will factor into the CMS calculations. I know many doctors who work in the private sector and are employees not self employed .

I’m sure he declares his earnings, pays tax on them, etc. So HMRC will have a record of his earnings. Self employed shouldn’t make a difference here.

@Yesthatismychildsigh everyone always says self employed is a nightmare though? How would this be different?

@theremustonlybeone how can I know if he is employed or not? He’s very secretive, he will definitely know I’m up to something if I ask. He works for spire hospitals and Nuffield hospitals?

Although self employed it is with one organisation who will have records of pay etc so should be easy to track. Do you have any access to records, his bank statements etc?

I do know a doctor who works cash in hand, which I think is unbelievably dodgy. He has his own company and is now coming under the HMRC microscope. If he works for spire or Nuffield he’ll either be an employee or be paid by an agency who will have records. I think CMS will have a field day

He has to show CMS his bank statements

@mewkins injust know what he gets from the nhs, no idea on the days he works for the private hospitals

@Notformethankyoukindly he definitely wouldn’t do anything dodgy, he thinks the world of himself and likes to be seen as perfect. He will make my life difficult behind closed doors though.

so with large private hospitals they should have some record of his pay? And cms can request these? Would they first ask him directly to honestly declare his income?

I don’t think it’s the self employed that’s necessarily the problem it when they have a business that they can hide money in so they don’t have a salary. If he’s filing a tax return and it says he earns x income you will get money based off that

@Runningfire ah ok that makes sense so like a director of a company could manipulate things? But self employed in this context is a straightforward tax return?

So you are keeping your child in a shitty situation because you might not get as much money as you'd like from her father??

Do you work?

No. I can’t afford nursery and working.

what a judgemental post.

CMS work off his tax returns, he doesn’t have to show them pay slips etc.

The problem with self employment is either when someone can work cash in hand ( like a plumber who does lots of small residential jobs and can ask the householder to pay cash ).

Or someone who has their own limited company, where the can make large profits but pay themselves a small salary. Or hire their new Gf as an employee and pay her a larger wage.

its not so bad with someone who works as a contractor for large companies, as they will be submitting all the details to HMRC themselves.

Before you leave him @2023helpplease get as much financial info as you can from his bank statements, tax returns, pensions , savings.

CMS look directly at HMRC tax records.

The reason s/e is often troublesome is because where someone works in a trade which often takes cash in hand, there are often earnings that are never declared. Or so many expenses are deducted that the taxable profit (the figure cms looks at) is artificially low.
Initially

CMS looks only at salaried earnings (if there are any) and ignores other income (eg dividends). So if you get a ridiculously low assessment you simply ask for a review and for them to include his s/e income. If that comes back low, you ask for a mandatory reconsideration.

The danger for you is that they may initially consider only his NHS salary and you'll need to push for them to look at the s/e income. CMS staff do not understand their own rules/regulations and the whole organisation is (sadly) unfit for purpose. I know this both as a customer and as a family lawyer.

I'd have thought a dr working for a legit private practice won't have much scope for cash in hand or fiddling expenses.

Have you done a companies house search on him, as being a doctor I would guess he has a limited company, as otherwise he could be sued personally if anything went wrong, if he does you can see his accounts as he has to file them with companies house, just make sure the one you check is .gov.uk

@TooTrusting thank you. I’ve tried to message you directly but it won’t work…

Shockingly judgemental & ignorant.

Clearly OP's partner won't contribute to childcare costs so that she can work.
I'm not sure why you are being so unpleasant about her need to ensure she gets enough money to pay for childcare post-split, so that she can actually afford to go to work to support herself & her child.

@quicklybeendrivenmad ive searched and can’t see anything. I wasn’t aware he had but he keeps his money very secretively, from me anyway

Nuffield keeps a record of what the doctors get paid. Often some consultants will set themselves up under a company name and take payments themselves but the majority goes through billing. Do you know if he has his own company set up to take payments or if it's through the hospital? It might be worth getting hold of a copy of his/the hospitals price list and highlighting out which procedures he does.

Either way he will have to prove his income through CMS. As he will be listed on the Spire and Nuffield websites it will be extremely difficult for him to lie about it unless he is only doing the NHS work coming through both private hospitals.

I hope this helps. I assume Spire do something similar but I couldn't tell you with certainty.

@Zorrita thank you!!

You utter prick

I imagine a doctor in private practice is usually paid by insurance companies so everything has to be properly receipted.